Varisia: Rise of the Runelords

The gang was dumbfounded. No matter what they tried to do to Iesha would not stop looking at that mirror. Then Vas had his most brilliant idea. Block her reflection. Bingo.

She took off and started to make her way downstairs. The group cautiously followed, wondering exactly what on earth was going on. She seemed to be after Aldern but they hadn’t seen him yet. When Iesha got to the main floor she began trying to claw her way through the floor. Nothing could stop her, as if she was under a curse. The party decided it was better to see where she was going then leave her in this state. So Eydan handed Worvin his Earthbreaker and smashed in the floor.

Below, a spiral staircase lead deep into the earth. Against their better judgement the party continued to follow. The staircase led down to a series of natural caverns. Eydan had a sudden flash of ghouls swarming them from the darkness . . . then the ghouls actually swarmed them from the darkness. Between Eydan and Worvin’s expert smashery and Vas’s magicks, the ghouls were easily defeated.

That is, until they met them again on a slippery ramp. Vas nearly panicked and fled when both Eydan and Worvin were paralyzed by the ghoul touch. But he kept his cool and held them off until the curse wore off and Worvin went to walloping the wights.

At the bottom of the ramp they entered a room and were surprised to see Aldern Foxglove and his (undead maybe) wife fighting to the death. They mostly decided to just sit back and watch. When Aldern slayed his wife (certainly undead) he turned and quite calmly welcomed the party. He was disappointed to see Eydan was not with them – Eydan was in fact with them, but disguised as a firepelt cougar. After some questioning about the murders, Aldern admitted he was controlled by someone, posessed even. He transformed to a hideous monster and attacked the group. Worvin freed him from the possession with a sword through the heart.

Evidence found on the scene implicated Aldern in some nasty business and made him the heroes’ prime suspect for the murders in Koshepa. They still had a lot of mansion to investigate though and were confident they had only scratched the surface of this mystery . . .

our mission to bring justice to the randomly gruesome killings at Sand Point led us to the Foxglove manor, known as “The Misgivings” in other circles.. Aldren Foxglove however has not welcomed us with open arms. Infact, nobody has at all. The place is a disaster and apparently haunted by at least one ghost. and several billion undead raven. Inside all of us have had strange visions and experiences, sometimes causing danger to the party. In particular we are reliving the horrifying experiences of Mrs Foxglove.

We have cleared the main level of the home, and decided up is safer than down, so up we have ventured upstairs. As we continued our search, all three of us gradually have become aware of a women quietly weeping for help- we are coming.

. . . and, with a wild but inspired slash of his sword, Worvin scared off the wererat and the dangers of Habe’s Sanatorium were over. However, there was still a lot to explore. Vas and Eydan apprehended Habe & Gormick then went downstairs to check on Worvin. The Heroes decided it would be best to check out the basement before leaving. You don’t want to leave a couple zombie loose. So they led the blind Worvin downstairs ready to do battle.

However, no battle was to be had. The basement, a necromancers lab, was deserted. They did, however, find some interesting magic items and the necromancer’s spellbook. The spellbook had notes written in it about Thassilon, and even had some drawings of the now ubiquitous seven-pointed-star. Vas thought it could link the necromancer to the murders in town, but it seemed circumstatial at best. Besides, the necromancer is dead and they had better leads now.

After securing Habe & Gormick, Vas and Eydan led Worvin back to Sandpoint to get some healing and meet with the Sheriff.

And then Eydan ran out of time to finish the journal, for the Forbidden Enchiladas of Kor-Kar’taal were ready for dinner.

Mystery, Meat and Mzombies!

The day began like any other. Or rather, it began like few others. No others, really.

Eydan, Worvin and Vas met at the Sheriff’s office to make a game plan to solve these murders. Eydan was especially motivated – he was baffled at his implication in the crime. They searched low and high . . . low, that is, as the docks in sandpoint harbor, and high as the sky above the Old Light. Most of their leads turned up as dead ends though. At the end of the day they had two ideas – investigate the town trash heap or go to the sanatorium a few miles outside of town to interview a crazy witness. They went with option 2.

I know what your’e thinking . . . and you’re kind of dismissive and belittling for things so . . but wouldn’t you EXPECT to find a bunch of crazy at a sanatorium? Well, sir, that’s exactly what the Heroes of Sandpoint found. Their witness was near death, and when a concerned Eydan approached, he was accosted. First verbally; He told Eydan that he was wanted at a place called The Misgivings, and that if he “joined the pack” he could even HAVE the misgivings. Good, maybe? Well, then he was physically accosted. And when Worvin saved his butt, Ol’ Habe the Sanitoriometrist started acting fishy.

Next thing we knew a necromancer and his band of zombies were attacking. Kind of out of nowhere. But then Worvin knocked on through a window and the fun began. Worvin got his eyes poked out by magic, while Eydan got his strength sucked out and Vas barfed out of both ends. The heroes fought on and won, killing the necromancer and his spawn. Vas and Eydan chased Habe up the stairs. They passed an escaped patient but didn’t really care.

However, that escaped patient may be causing problems for ol’ Worvin, still recovering on the first floor . . .

Notes

Clues
Star carved into chests
3 men from out of town
Ibor the foreman found the bodies. wasn’t working that night, or so he says.

Search of crime scene at the lumber mill:

Dead Bodies:
Female Body: Katrin Vendor. Dead.
Parker – Mill worker. affixed to wall using hooks. face carved away.
Hand Axe with blood on it stuck in the floor.
Smell of rotten meat on barefoot footprints and on the axe.
Killer (or someone) came up from the water.
Footprints are barefoot human man
Found footprints on the other side of the river that just go up to the beach and back to the water.
Harkin has long clawed finger gouges on body.

From interrogation of Ibor

Wasn’t likely work going on. Katrine and Parker Shaffer were likely just bumpin’ uglies at night.
Seems legit. Probably not the killer. His dad, apparently, will vouch for him.

Checking Harker’s house

Has lots of money. Skimming money, cooking books at the lumbermill.

Investigation of Barn Crime scene

3 con men found dead with stars cut on chests.
Note addressed to Mortwell, Hask & Tabe.
Claw marks on them . . . by people with extraordinarily long nails. bizarre.
Ropes used to bind someone
One person was nailed to the wall
Grace Seveel had been there too and was not killed by the murderer. Went crazy. Has now gone crazy.

Scarnetti conversation

He was condescending and not very happy to be questioned. Said he would’ve done a better job. Noro is convinced he’s not involved.

Other

Whack-a-Goblin

Hank’s Story:

Hank was ecstatic. The rest of his fellow Thistletop goblins were busy raiding sandpoint, but he had hit the jackpot: the sandpoint pound. He looked around at all the helpless dogs and puppies just looking back at him. YES, his bloodlust said. THIS IS THEBESTDAY OF MY LIFE. Hank started around the room with his dogslicer, chopping up every manner of poodle, pug and pomeranian. Blood was everywhere. He laughed hysterically. Through all the chaos, he didn’t even notice the soft footsteps, the creaking of hinges.

He drank the blood of bloodhounds and tore through the terriers. He chopped chihuahuas to chunks and ripped retreievers to ribbons. He pulverized the pointers and eviscerated the vizslas. This was too good to be true! Never had any goblin killed so many of these miserable creatures at once. Hank would go down in Thistletop history! Or wait. . . . was it really too good to be true?

Hank fought hard as reality slipped back. He didn’t want to let go of this fantasy. But the smell of pickle juice started to replace the smell of dog blood. He slipped out of the dream, and was back to the watchtower on Thistletop. He opened his eyes.

Standing in front of him was a brawny, brown human welding a hammer bigger than Hank’s head.

He didn’t even feel the blow crack down on his skull.

Ripnugget’s story:

Ripnugget sat on top of Charlene, his riding gecko. He delighted at watching his favorite warriors battle illusory humans. Of course, real humans would be better, but until they could launch another raid on Sandpoint, this would have to do. He shouted over to Wiggy the warchanter “give them something really challenging!”

Just then, a Hyena appeared in front of Commander Putnam. “Clever, Wiggy. How did you think of a Hyena?”

Something was wrong and Ripnugget knew it. He scanned the room – the main door was slightly ajar. “Hey, who’s out there? Come on in!” he said.

“It’s probably just Sawsage” said putnam, obviously too stupid to realize the situation.

Just then a brute of a human bust through the door, brandishing two swords. He quickly dispatched one of the commanders. Ripnugget’s blood began to boil Real humans just as I asked. Lamashtu be praised. He bellowed out from deep within his bones “LONGSHAAAAAAAANKSS!” and smacked Charlene into action. Quickly, another human (this one very short and a bit odd looking), and ancient elf and a heavily armored glowy-looking human charged in the door. Putnam and the Barfwhip held most of them off but the short human and his dumb cat approached the throne. Ripnugget charged across the room, nearly slicing the weaking human in half with his short sword.

The cowardly brown-skinned human, obviously scared of Ripnuggets ferocity, tried to attack Charlene instead. Ripnugget easily reared her back and landed another blow on the human. The pathetic weakling looked almost dead already. This will be too easy, he thought.

But when he turned again, the Brute was right in front of him. The small human ran away, so Ripnugget focused his attention on this more worthy foe. Ripnugget and the brute traded blows but ripnugget had trouble penatrating the brute’s armor. Just then he felt a leathery hand grab his arm. The touch sent chills down his spine – then a piercing shock rattled his body. It was enough to distract him. He saw the twin blades of the brute come down and new he was finished.

Ripnugget fell off Charlene onto the dirt floor. Blood dripped out his mouth. He tried to pull himself up, but he had barely reached his knees when Charlene, slain, fell on top of him, crushing his spine. He could do nothing but lie on the ground and bleed. As his life started to flee him, he watched his fellow goblins fall one by one. First Barfwhip fell, then Wiggy. Then the other goblins rushed in and one by one were cut down by the intruders. Brent, Ib-bin, even Sawsage. He watched them all die. He muttered one final curse, and closed his eyes for good.

The adventure log is where you list the sessions and adventures your party has been on, but for now, we suggest doing a very light “story so far” post. Just give a brief overview of what the party has done up to this point. After each future session, create a new post detailing that night’s adventures.

One final tip: Don’t stress about making your Obsidian Portal campaign look perfect. Instead, just make it work for you and your group. If everyone is having fun, then you’re using Obsidian Portal exactly as it was designed, even if your adventure log isn’t always up to date or your characters don’t all have portrait pictures.